The Adventure of Black Peter
"The Adventure of Black Peter" is a Sherlock Holmes short story by the British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was first published in the February 27, 1904 issue of Collier's magazine in the United States and in the March 1904 issue of The Strand magazine in the United Kingdom. It would be published again as part of the 1905 anthology The Return of Sherlock Holmes. In the story, Inspector HopkinsThe character of Inspector Stanley Hopkins is introduced in "The Adventure of Black Peter". He also appears in "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez" (first published in July 1904) and "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" (first published in September 1904). He is referred to, but does not appear, in "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter" (first published in August 1904). of Scotland Yard asks the brilliant consulting detective Sherlock Holmes to help him investigate the murder of Peter Carey, a former captain of a whaling ship whose nickname was Black Peter. The body of Peter Carey was found in a wooden hut in which he used to sleep, pinned to the wall by one of his own harpoons. A notebook with the initials J.H.N. was found at the scene of the crime. When a man named John Hopley Neligan is caught trying to break into Peter Carey's wooden hut, Inspector Hopkins believes that he has found the murderer. Holmes, however, is unconvinced. "The Adventure of Black Peter" has been adapted for radio, film and television. Plot The story takes place in July 1895. Sherlock Holmes has spent a lot of time away from his Baker Street apartment. Several "rough-looking men" have come to the apartment, asking for Captain Basil. Dr. Watson, Holmes' friend and housemate, realizes that Captain Basil is an alias that Holmes has adopted as part of an investigation. Holmes returns home early one morning, carrying a harpoon. He tells Watson that he has been in a butcher's shop, carrying out an experiment involving the harpoon and the carcass of a pig hanging on a hook. Soon afterwards, Inspector Hopkins of Scotland Yard arrives. Hopkins and Holmes begin talking about the investigation into the murder of Peter Carey. For the benefit of Watson, who knows nothing about the murder, Holmes asks Hopkins to give a full account of the case. Peter Carey was the captain of a whaling ship called the Sea Unicorn. He was nicknamed Black Peter because of his dark complexion, black beard and bad temper. He retired eleven years ago and settled in a house called Woodman's Lee, near the village of Forest Row, Sussex. He lived there with his wife, 20-year-old daughter and two maids. Peter Carey did not sleep inside the house. He built a wooden hut, which he called "The Cabin", where he used to sleep. "The Cabin" was decorated exactly like a captain's cabin on a ship. Peter Carey kept all the old log books of the Sea Unicorn there and three harpoons were mounted on the wall. Peter Carey's bad reputation continued after his retirement. He was often violent and abusive towards his wife and daughter when drunk. He was arrested once for assaulting a local clergyman. Two days before Peter Carey's murder, a passerby saw the silhouette of a bearded man, who was not Peter Carey, inside "The Cabin". On the night of his murder, Peter Carey's daughter heard a scream coming from "The Cabin". She did not think much of it because her father often used to shout and scream when drunk. At seven o'clock the following morning, one of the maids found the door of "The cabin" open. Although this was unusual, the maid was so frightened of her master that she did not investigate further. At noon, Peter Carey's wife and daughter found him dead. One of the three harpoons from Peter Carey's wall had been driven right through his body and into the wooden wall of the hut behind him. Consequently, there was a lot of blood on the floor. A knife in a sheath, which Peter Carey's wife identified as being his, was found at his feet. Although he was killed at about two o'clock in the morning, Peter Carey was fully dressed. This suggests that he was expecting a visitor. This seems to be confirmed by a bottle of rum and two dirty glasses on a table. A seal-skin tobacco pouch full of rough tobacco was also found on a table. The pouch is assumed to have belonged to Peter Carey because the initials P.C. are on it, even though Peter Carey rarely smoked and did not own a pipe. A notebook with the initials J.H.N. on it was found on the floor. Notes inside the book seem to refer to shares in South American companies. A bloodstain on the book's cover indicates that it was dropped after the murder was committed. Holmes and Watson travel to Sussex with Inspector Hopkins to continue the investigation. Due to the relative lack of dust on part of one shelf in "The Cabin", Holmes realizes that a rectangular object has recently been removed from it. Holmes also notices that someone has unsuccessfully tried to break into "The Cabin", using the blade of a small pocket knife to try to force the lock. The door's lock could easily be forced with a better knife, so Holmes is confident that the person who attempted to break in will try again. As night falls, Holmes, Watson and Hopkins hide in some bushes, watch "The Cabin" and wait for the would-be burglar to return. At about 2:30am, a young man breaks into "The Cabin" and is seen reading one of the log books. When Hopkins, Holmes and Watson make their presence known, the young man denies being the murderer of Peter Carey. He says that his name is John Hopley Neligan and reluctantly explains why he broke into the hut. John Hopley Neligan's father had been a banker who was accused of stealing from his customers. In August 1883, he tried to escape to Norway on his yacht, taking a metal box containing some share certificates with him. He was never seen again. Recently, however, some of the shares which he took with him have been sold. John Hopley Neligan has found out that Peter Carey sold those shares. He has also found out that Peter Carey was in the Arctic Sea in August 1883. it is possible that Neligan's father's yacht got blown off course and carried to the Arctic Sea. Neligan says that he came to Forest Row, hoping to speak to Peter Carey but Carey was murdered before he had the chance. In an inquest report, Neligan read that Carey kept his old log books in his hut. Neligan realized that he could read the Sea Unicorn's log for August 1883 to see if Carey said anything about meeting his father. He tried unsuccessfully to break in the night before. He has just found out that the page for August 1883 has been ripped out of the log book. Neligan denies having been in the hut on the night of Carey's murder. Hopkins produces the bloodstained notebook with the initials J.H.N. on it. Neligan realizes that he has been caught in a lie and is arrested. Holmes and Watson return to London. Watson knows, however, that Holmes does not believe the right man has been arrested. Back in London, Holmes receives a letter telling him to expect a visit from Inspector Hopkins and a letter from a shipping agency telling him to expect a visit from three seamen. When Hopkins arrives, Holmes says that he does not believe that Neligan is the murderer because he lacks the physical strength to run a harpoon through a man and into a wall. Holmes says that he tried to do the same thing with the carcass of a pig and failed. When the three seamen arrive, Holmes asks their names. He sends them all away, apart from the man whose name is Patrick Cairns. Holmes takes Cairns by surprise and puts a pair of handcuffs on him. Cairns admits to having killed Peter Carey, although he insists that the death was not murder. In August 1883, Patrick Cairns was a harpooner on board the Sea Unicorn under Captain Peter Carey. The crew of the Sea Unicorn rescued a man in a dinghy who was carrying a metal box. The man spent a long time talking with Peter Carey in his cabin. A few days after he was rescued, the man disappeared. It was assumed that he fell overboard. Only Patrick Cairns saw Peter Carey throw the man overboard. Shortly afterwards, Peter Carey retired from sailing. Patrick Cairns was certain that Peter Carey killed the man for the contents of his box and that it was thanks to the contents of the box that Carey became rich enough to retire. Having realized that he could blackmail Carey, Cairns spent years searching for him. He eventually tracked him down to Sussex. On Cairns' first visit to him, Carey seemed quite open to the idea of giving him some money to keep him quiet. He told Cairns to come back in two nights' time, by which time he would have made some arrangements. Cairns noticed that the metal box which the man had been carrying twelve years early was on a shelf in Carey's wooden hut. On the evening of Cairns' return, Carey was drunk and in an extremely bad mood. He and Cairns talked for a while but Carey's temper grew worse and worse, until he eventually produced his knife and prepared to attack Cairns. Taking a harpoon from the wall, Cairns killed Carey in what he believed was self-defense. After having killed Peter Carey, Cairns took the metal box and set off for London. He absent-mindedly left his tobacco pouch behind. After he left "The Cabin", Cairns saw Neligan enter it. Neligan screamed and ran away when he saw Carey's corpse. On arrival in London, Patrick Cairns found out that the metal box did not contain any money, only share certificates with which Cairns did not know what to do. Finding himself alone and penniless, Cairns began to look for a job. He saw advertisements which said that Captain Basil was offering good wages to experienced sailors and harpooners. Sherlock Holmes admits that, if he had known about the notebook marked J.H.N. from the start, he might have suspected John Hopley Neligan of the murder too. The notebook, however, was not mentioned in the initial inquest report. Everything that was mentioned in the inquest report, the harpoon driven through Peter Carey's body, the drinking of rum and the seal-skin tobacco pouch, pointed towards the murderer being a sailor. Holmes was certain that the tobacco pouch did not belong to Peter Carey but to someone else whose initials were P.C. He found out that a man named Patrick Cairns had served under Peter Carey on the Sea Unicorn. Reasoning that the murderer was probably in London and keen to leave the country, Holmes, using the name Captain Basil, advertised for experienced seamen to join him on an Arctic expedition. Adaptations "The Adventure of Black Peter" was adapted as a British silent movie, starring Ellie Norwood as Holmes, which was released in 1922. The story was adapted as the eleventh episode of the BBC TV series Sherlock Holmes starring Peter Cushing as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson. It first aired in the United Kingdom on November 18, 1968. The episode is now lost. "221B Baker Street", the first episode of the Russian TV series Sherlock Holmes starring Igor Potrenko as Holmes and Andrei Panin as Watson, is a loose adaptation of "The Adventure of Black Peter". It was first shown in Russia on November 18, 2013. In the episode, Peter Carey's wife Jessica works as a maid for Lady Neligan. Through love letters that Jessica Carey is asked to deliver, she and her husband find out that Louise Berkett, Lady Neligan's niece who is engaged to Count Lengton, is having a secret affair with a young man named Roger Smith. Peter Carey, who is in possession of the love letters, attempts to use them to blackmail Lady Neligan. It is later revealed that Roger Smith has no genuine romantic interest in Louise Berkeet. He only wooed her in the hope of later blackmailing Lady Neligan himself. In order for Smith's plan to work, Peter Carey has to be removed. Smith hires a man named Jack Strotter, who used to be a harpooner on Peter Carey's whaling ship and who continues to hold a grudge against his former captain, to kill Carey. A faithful radio adaptation of "The Adventure of Black Peter", starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson, was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom on March 31, 1993. Footnotes External links *Text of "The Adventure of Black Peter" on Wikisource. *Quotations from "The Adventure of Black Peter" on Wikiquote, *Public domain audiobook of "The Adventure of Black Peter" on YouTube. *"The Adventure of Black Peter" on Baker Street wiki. Category:Detective Category:Mystery Category:Sailing Category:Short Stories Category:Famous Category:Classic